This is a compilation of some of the high spots of 2007. Some of the links below (which are not in the printed version) are to pictures, others are to the website mentioned; they'll generally open in a new window, so close them rather than trying to use your browser's "Back" button to return to this page after viewing them.
After 44 years working, the last 20 at Lockheed Martin, Stan plans to retire. According to others who have already retired, that will leave hime even less time to do things. But he plans to continue bike riding (just not to Sunnyvale every morning at 7 AM!), hopes to catch up on all the books he's bought at the Palo Alto Library monthly sales, finally work on the photo he's collected over the last 40+ years, and transfer the video cassette recordings to a more permanent medium. There's also a plan to tour Europe from March to November. Those details are in our Google online spreadsheet.
Stan continues as webmaster not only for the family home page, but also for Kiyomi's business CrossTech. In addition, he is webmaster for the Stanford-Palo Alto User Group (SPAUG) for PC's, hosts a Web Page Creation and Maintenance Special Interest Group (SIG), and is a consultant in Alan's Home Theater Installation website. I invite everyone interested in computers to visit the SPAUG site, especially ShareWhere, which lists interesting websites on the Internet. The Newsletter has a monthly column by our president that has a lot of useful, current information and advice; and usually a report on the General Meeting and Planning Meeting by yours truly, including quite often summaries or even podcasts of the feature presentation. Also visit Alan's site if you're interested in home theater discussions. . Note Stan's updated email address stan.hutchings@gmail.com – the stan.hutchings#64;LMCO.com will not work after January 2008. The Gmail account is set to forward mail to the LMCO account until I retire.
Kiyomi's jobs continue to keep her busy and intellectually stimulated. The first part of the year she was researching e-learning and online learning for corporate and government programs, writing a book to be published in Japan, in late 2007. Since the book is written in Japanese, the American-side relatives won't be able to read it. She's also written articles, reports and reviews for various Japanese agencies. She is researching work-life balance topics to try to help people deal with the stress of balancing their career with their personal life, and might develop some kind of online support. She continues mentoring people from government, education, and industry, both in Japan, Germany and the United States. In her spare time, she is the one who plans our wonderful vacations. For 2007, we went to Japan for a week to visit Aya and our other relatives (many nieces and nephews have had babies in the past few years). We continued on to Cambodia, to visit Siem Reap and Angkor Wat for about a week. For 2008, she's considering Portugal, Spain and other European countries, including river cruises, and ending with a tour of Italy's Tuscany region. .
Aya had a very busy and interesting assignment in Japan, opening the Banana Republic Japan for Gap Inc. You can read about and see photos of her adventures in Japan here. Her assignment ended in February, so she interviewed with several companies besides the Gap, and finally decided on Sephora. She and Matt looked around San Francisco for a condo to buy, rather than rent. The found a good deal at the Arterra Mission Bay Condo Project. The "Arterra Living" link gives a lot of information. I believe they will be on the ground floor of the Park building. If you click "Residences", and then mouse over the bottom floor of the Park building, and click when the bottom floor is highlighted, you'll get a floor layout plan. Then click one of the little arrows in one of the units for a unit's floor plan. If you have questions, .
Until the condo is ready sometime next year, they'll be living a few blocks away. Here's a map of the general area.
She has posted many photos at here Kodak EasyShare Gallery - you can visit them here:
Bali #1 January 2006
Bali #2 January 2006
Bali #3 January 2006
Japan February 2006
Japan Week 2
Yukata Bune Party
Japan Week 3
Japan Week 4
Japan Week 13 - Hakone
Aya and Matt in San Diego, January 2007
Japan Week 23 - Family reunion with Stan, Kiyomi, Aya and our Uehara family relatives: Kiyomi's sister, Yumiko; niece Tomomi & her husband Kenichi, and their children; nephew Yuhei & his wife Yuki, and their children
Alan continues teaching Tae Kwon Do to kids and adults, plus taking advanced classes to give him the aerobic exercise he needs.
He has gradually built his "real" job into a profitable, thriving business: consulting, designing and installing home theater systems. The installation usually culminates in an instructional session, where the new owner is initiated into the intricacies of operating the system. The smarter clients have added a multi-function remote control that is programmed with a computer to automatically start the system for one of the several functions (TV, DVD, CD, VCR, radio, phonograph, etc.). Some of his installations are very elaborate, involving the whole house, or considerable carpentry, in addition to wiring (click here to view his photo gallery). There is a lot of information about his company and the products and services they provide at this website, which Stan has created. He is a good resource if you're thinking about installing a new home theater, or just upgrading what you have. .
Shinobu-chan, daughter of Kiyomi's brother Masayuki, had a baby last year, and has started a blog to let friends and relatives follow the adventures of a new mom and dad and daughter. You can see it at http://syocoron.exblog.jp/. Be warned - it's in Japanese; but the many photos speak for themselves in any language.
Our other niece and nephew (Kiyomi's sister's children are the proud parents) also have youngsters, but they haven't posted the photos online. You can see some pictures of them at our Kurojaya Restaurant Family Reunion, and in some of Aya's photo albums.
Three of our dinners in Cambodia were special introductions to the Khmer cuisine: we had a special Khmer sampler at the Hotel Victoria, accompanied by the local Angkor Beer; we had a Cambodian buffet and dancing exibition outside under a full moon at the Hotel Meridien; and a special kaiseki-style dinner while on a swing at the Hotel de la Paix. All three were elegant and delicious. The dancing was especially fascinating, with musical accompaniment that really added to the mood.
The full report on our visit to Siem Reap, Cambodia and the Angkor Wat ruins is in a separate document. The Cambodia experience was beyond our expectations, and we were very pleased with everything. Read the report (with links to pictures), or just view the pictures taken in Japan and Cambodia at hutchings.smugmug.com. The
coming in November...
coming in December...
The whole brick wall construction project chronology is available at the Hutchings Smugmug page, and choose the Front and Back Brick Work Project 2006 Gallery. The picture here is our new front entrance, with carvings displayed on either side, and a "doorbell" that rings the telephone inside with a distinctive ring.
Our first reunion was with the Japanese side, with Kiyomi's sister Yumiko and her family. The reunion photos are here.
Kiyomi, Alan and Stan visited San Diego in April for a weekend to celebrate Anna's birthday and Mothers Day. It was a nice break, and a chance to visit our San Diego relatives.
We had a nice reunion to celebrate Eric's graduation from college in June.
The big reunion was Wilton's 85th birthday and 60th wedding anniversary with a family cruise to the Mexican Rivera in November. Anna & Wilton's children and grandchildren were invited by them to spend a week cruising the Mexican Rivera on a Princess cruise.
If you have comments or suggestions, or just want to chat,